A provision quietly tucked into a new Wisconsin transportation funding bill could make it harder to build bike trails and sidewalks throughout the state, including in Madison.The proposed rule bars state and local governments from taking property from private owners for certain projects — a process called condemnation — including cyclist and pedestrian paths, street walkways and other pedestrian spaces.

Former UW-Madison student Alec Shiva — who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another student on campus while high on LSD in 2016 — was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison and three years of probation.Shiva, 19, of Verona, Wis., was charged last year with three felonies including second-degree sexual assault, strangulation and suffocation and false imprisonment.

A prison in downtown Madison is taking center stage as officials and community members prepare for county funding plans to be decided next month.Among members of the public who spoke at a budget hearing Tuesday night, all but one of them called for improvements to the Dane County Jail, which is set to be renovated once county officials can agree on a plan for it.Officials have sparred on how to move forward with prison renovations for about a decade.

Moped drivers in Madison probably won’t be revved up for a new city law changing where the vehicles can be parked.In an attempt by city council to clear the way for pedestrians, moped users will soon not be permitted to park on public terraces or sidewalks.

Former UW-Madison student Alec Cook will face seven separate trials in a sexual assault case involving nearly a dozen women, a county judge ruled Thursday.The case will be separated by victims and the type of charge filed, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Ehlke wrote in a statement, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

An international energy conference scheduled to be held in Madison this month has been cancelled after the Trump administration denied several key Africa-based presenters visas to enter the country.The US-Africa Energy Summit 2017, organized by the UW-Platteville International Business Center, was set to take place at Monona Terrace Sept.18 and 19.

Mayors and local leaders across the U.S. have responded to the violence in Charlottesville by ordering the removal of publicly-owned Confederate monuments, and Soglin said he agreed with those “around the country also speaking out and taking action.”

A former UW-Madison student was found not guilty Wednesday of a felony sexual assault charge, though he seemingly admitted to sexually assaulting a sleeping peer in a campus residence hall in 2015.Following a two-day trial, a jury in the Dane County Circuit Court ruled 21-year-old Nicholas Ralston of Shellsburg, Iowa will be acquitted of third-degree sexual assault.Ralston, who was expelled months after the assault, reportedly initiated nonconsensual oral sex with his roommate’s girlfriend in their Ogg Hall dorm room in April 2015, according to the criminal complaint.The victim and her boyfriend fell asleep on a futon in the dorm room after returning from a party around 1 a.m., the complaint said.